182: Chapter 182 The viral video, Green Tea Qi Mao
In the Beast Taming Guild's open Canteen, Li Yu, Chen Qing, and the three people he had selected were eating.
Perhaps because he was used to the sauerkraut fish made by the master chef at Bright Moon Company, Li Yu felt that the sauerkraut fish here tasted like pre-made food.
The next second, he realized he was being unreasonable.
What was wrong with pre-made food? Back when he couldn't even afford medical bills or a decent meal, he certainly wouldn't have thought this way.
How had he become so stuck-up?
Having figured this out, Li Yu decided that this pre-made sauerkraut fish wasn't entirely unacceptable.
At that moment, a pair of chopsticks gently placed a piece of fried fish into his bowl.
Chen Qing said, "This one isn't pre-made. Here, for you."
"Aren't you eating it?"
"I don't eat fish."
"You don't eat fish, yet you ordered fish?"
Li Yu looked at Chen Qing strangely, but after being glared at by her, he stopped asking questions and honestly started eating.
Seeing this, Chen Qing snorted in her heart and buried her head in her food.
Opposite them, Chu Xiaolian, Feng Hou, and Wei Long watched quietly, their expressions still a bit dazed.
After agreeing on the battle time and the team members, Li Yu had taken them to bid farewell to the guild president before heading straight to the guild's Canteen. As for He Long, Qi Mao, and the others, they had also left to wait for the 3 PM match.
"Um... Master Li? Great God Li?" Feng Hou chuckled and asked in a low voice.
"Call me Li Yu."
"Oh, Li Yu, um... will you really evolve all of our beasts?"
"Yes. Do you not want that?"
Li Yu looked up at Feng Hou, which scared Feng Hou so much that he hurriedly shouted, "I want it, I want it, of course I want it! Oh, Godfather, please accept my bow!"
As he spoke, he actually cupped his hands together in a salute like those in martial arts films. Chu Xiaolian also gratefully expressed her thanks.
Only Wei Long was eating gloomily, because Li Yu had refused to give his evolution slot to his sister, and once they finished eating, he would begin evolving his beast.
He was a man who was about to die; what was the point of evolving a beast? If he died, what use would a beast be?
Thinking of this, he made up his mind. He quickly swallowed the food in his mouth, put down his chopsticks, and said to Li Yu, "Mr. Li."
The others turned to look. Li Yu also looked up at him.
"I once again request that you save my evolution slot for my sister. I can give you all my assets, and I promise to use my life..."
"Stop!" Li Yu cut him off before he could finish. After swallowing the piece of fried fish in his mouth, Li Yu said, "I'm very busy lately and don't have time to train your sister's beast. As for after the ruins, if I'm dead, would any promise I make now even matter?"
In recent days, in order to raise his cultivation value to 10,000 as quickly as possible, his training schedule was almost completely packed. If it weren't for Director Wang calling him to reserve time in advance, he might not have been able to come at all.
Wei Long was silent at Li Yu's words.
It was true; if an accident occurred in the ruins and Li Yu died, whatever was promised now would be impossible to fulfill then.
But in order to increase their survival chances, he had to use the evolution slot on his beast. If his beast grew stronger, the odds of Li Yu surviving the ruins would be slightly higher. But this way, the slot would be used up again.
For a moment, Wei Long fell into deep thought, his weathered face full of sorrow. He was clearly under 30, yet he gave people the impression of someone in their forties or fifties.
Li Yu said, "Send me your sister's information or whatever. If I leave the ruins alive, regardless of whether you are dead or alive, I will help your sister evolve her beast once. I'll cover the costs."
"The two of you are the same; each of you has one free evolution opportunity. Of course, I am not responsible for the materials."
Upon hearing this, Wei Long was overjoyed and stood up abruptly, his voice so loud it sounded like he was signing a military pledge: "Okay! I promise! Even if I have to risk my life, I will not hesitate!"
The fatty cupped his hands: "Me too!"
Chu Xiaolian nodded with a serious expression.
"Alright, let's eat, let's eat. You guys have made this meal... it wasn't that good to begin with, and now it's even worse."
The three of them smiled awkwardly and continued eating.
However, a strange phenomenon occurred.
As they ate, they felt that the Beast Tamers eating nearby or walking past would occasionally cast their gazes upon them. The gazes were uncomfortable, filled with disdain and disgust. The group grew increasingly puzzled.
The fatty finished eating first, opened his phone to scroll through it, and suddenly cursed excitedly, "Damn his grandfather! That bastard Qi Mao!"
Li Yu asked, "What's wrong?"
The others also cast inquiring glances.
"That bastard posted the live stream content on the local network, and the popularity exploded. It already has over three million views! Damn it... he even twisted the facts to blame us. If I had known, I should have torn the Sandstorm Crocodile's steel to shreds!" Feng Hou said.
"Over 3 million?!" Chu Xiaolian was shocked.
Wei Long also frowned.
Over 3 million wasn't much on the internet, but this was on a local website. The entire population of Ningyang City was less than 8 million; 3 million was already over 30% of the population. Even if some of those views were diverted to other cities, it was still a significant number.
Li Yu took out his phone and logged onto the local portal website. Sure enough, he saw seven or eight hot search entries regarding this elite selection. He clicked on them one by one to check.
The first one was a live stream recording, exactly from Qi Mao's perspective, capturing the scene of Li Yu selecting his team members, with some added subtitles:
"I don't understand. Even though we won the battle, this Breeder chose the ones who lost to be his team members. Maybe this is just a game of power; ordinary people like you and me can only cooperate."
Seeing this, Li Yu's face turned dark.
Cooperate my ass!
Cooperate by letting you post the video online? Cooperate by letting you be all sarcastic here?
He opened the comment section below, and it was filled with curses.
"I'll bet my wife's remaining lifespan! This is definitely a shady operation," one netizen said.
"Besties, Brother Mao has been subjected to unspoken rules. Let's all complain to the Cultivation Department and resolutely boycott this shameless Breeder!" another female netizen from the Immortal World said.
"Disgusting! So disgusting!"
"People like this should be hit by a car or crushed by a billboard!"
"He's simply a disgrace to the cultivation world. Everyone, make sure not to look for him for cultivation in the future. Resolutely boycott him!"
"..."
Snap!
As Li Yu was looking at the comments, he suddenly heard a sound from the side. He turned his head and saw that the chopsticks in Chen Qing's hand had been snapped in two, her eyes looking as if they contained ten-thousand-year-old ice.
The three, Wei Long, Feng Hou, and Chu Xiaolian, were trembling.
Li Yu also swallowed his saliva and carefully consoled her, "Um, it's fine, it's just a little bit of cursing, it won't make me lose a piece of flesh."
"I know," Chen Qing said expressionlessly. Then she snatched Li Yu's chopsticks and started eating on her own, as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion.
Huh, an illusion that can snap chopsticks? This illusion is pretty amazing.
Li Yu muttered to himself, deceiving himself. He didn't dare to take back his chopsticks, thinking, "Forget it, anyway, this sauerkraut fish tastes like pre-made food, and I wasn't hungry to begin with. Yes, that's it."
Li Yu continued to look at the hot searches.
In addition to this widely circulated, edited live stream clip, there was another statement Qi Mao had posted online.
"I'm really sorry for wasting public resources. I didn't expect the video to suddenly go viral. I was just joking; please don't take it seriously (sad.jpg). If this has caused trouble for Breeder @Li Yu because of me, I'm truly sorry."
"Maybe I really am not qualified to enter the ruins. Regardless, I wish Li Yu and the few qualified team members a smooth victory. You guys are great."
"Please, my fans, speak calmly. It's okay, I'm already used to it. I'm not sad; as long as everyone is happy, that's fine."
After reading this, Li Yu's mouth twitched slightly. He felt like he had been labeled with something strange.
It was as if he were a person who abandoned someone after seducing them.
...Damn it! That green tea bastard!
Li Yu stood up with a "whoosh."
"Where are you going?" Feng Hou asked.
"Cultivation!" Li Yu said indignantly, "I'm going to make that guy eat back all the crap he spewed out of his mouth!"